apantli (Mdz16v)

apantli (Mdz16v)
Element from a Compound

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description: 

The compound glyph for the place name Xalapan doubles here as a simplex glyph for the apantli, canal or water channel. We have not carved out the xalli (sand) from the middle of this cross-section of a canal, because it would leave a confusing result. Water flows horizontally above the dotted sand (black dots on a white background). The green frame with perpendicular yellow hash marks encloses a canal that consists of the two layers--sand and water. Inside that green frame is another yellow liner, providing considerable structure for the canal. The water is a typical turquoise blue with white droplets/beads and a white turbinate shell splashing off of it.

Description, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Source Manuscript: 
Mendoza/Mendocino, Codex (Mdz)
Date of Manuscript: 

c. 1541, or by 1553 at the latest

Creator's Location (and place coverage): 

Mexico City

Semantic Categories: 
place name
Syntax: 
noun(s)
Writing Features: 
simplex or element as logogram
Cultural Content & Iconography: 
Dirt, Sand, Soil
Names (places)
Water
Cultural Content, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Colors: 
blue (turquoise)
green (dark)
white/neutral
yellow or golden
Shapes and Perspectives: 
dotted, granular, textured
cross-sectioned object
trapezoidal
Glyph or Iconographic Image: 
Relevant Nahuatl Dictionary Word(s): 

a(tl), water, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/atl
apan(tli), water channel/canal, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/apantli

Image Source: 

Codex Mendoza, folio 16 verso, https://digital.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/objects/2fea788e-2aa2-4f08-b6d9-648c00..., image 43 of 188.

Image Source, Rights: 

The Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford, hold the original manuscript, the MS. Arch. Selden. A. 1. This image is published here under the UK Creative Commons, “Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 License” (CC-BY-NC-SA 3.0).